


Broken Pieces

by galaxystiel



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, Implied/Referenced Character Death, M/M, Major character death - Freeform, but this is supernatural, so they always come back
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-01-18
Updated: 2015-01-18
Packaged: 2018-03-08 01:11:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 948
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3190226
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/galaxystiel/pseuds/galaxystiel
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Prompt: Broken Pieces</p>
            </blockquote>





	Broken Pieces

Dean stepped through the door into the bunker and surveyed the ruins around him with no expression at all on his face. He could’ve just been casually strolling around, if it weren’t for the lines of misery and grief surrounding his dull eyes. There was no other way to describe it, he looked defeated, like a broken man who had just given up.

He walked through the house and down the stairs, his boots crunching through the broken pieces of glass and wood and ceramic that littered the floor, barely aware of the sounds echoing through the empty bunker. Sam was off God knows where, and for once, Dean couldn’t bring himself to care. He just walked through to his room in a daze, only looking up when his ears registered a different sound. The sound of paper rustling amongst the crunch of glass.

Looking down, Dean found he was standing on a photograph, amidst the destroyed frame. He bent down slowly to pick it up, his hands shaking as he raised the picture, unfolding it. His movements were clumsy as he opened it, staring down at the picture that had been taken only a few weeks previous. It wasn’t even a special occasion. They’d called Castiel for help with a case and he’d showed up immediately. Standing in the kitchen, they’d been running over the plan while Dean got a beer, and he’d made a wise crack, and Castiel had smiled.

Sam had snapped a picture and Dean had immediately taken a copy for his room, sitting pride of place on the table next to his bed. He’d looked at the picture every night before he went to sleep, on the days that Castiel wasn’t there.

And then just over a week ago, it had happened.

He wasn’t even sure how, all he knew was that it was just a routine, back to the simple salt and burn days, and they’d been ambushed by a nest of seriously angry demons, led by Abaddon. He couldn’t even remember most of it, he’d blocked it out. How had the demons even gotten hold of an angel blade? There’d been a flash of silver, and someone had been screaming. His head was fuzzy, but he was pretty sure that it was him. But either way, he saw white leaking from Castiel’s mouth and he fought his way to him.

He showed no mercy, embedding Ruby’s knife into everything in his path as he made his way to Castiel, and he clutched him tightly in his arms. “Cas, come on, buddy, you’ve survived worse than this. We’ve taken on the damn devil, survived purgatory, and you’re gonna let a little black-eyed bitch take you down?” His voice trembled and his hands were pressing over Castiel’s wound, as if trying to stop the life seeping out of him. “Cas, you can’t leave. We need you. I need you.”

Castiel locked eyes with Dean for a brief moment, choking on his own blood as he tried to speak, but he couldn’t form the words. Life wouldn’t even grant him a goodbye, and he went still.

Dean couldn’t even remember what happened after that. All he knew was that he had this unwavering belief that Castiel would come back. All of them had defied death a number of times. Sam had tried to suggest gently that maybe this time they’d have to accept it, but Dean had told him with certainty that Castiel wouldn’t leave him, not like this.

Each day, he lost a little more faith. Maybe Sam was right. Maybe Castiel wasn’t so important to the man upstairs anymore, and he was gone. Because if he was alive, there was no way he wouldn’t have let Dean know, wouldn’t have found his way back to him.

After a week, he’d given up. Sitting up all night at the kitchen table praying, his phone in his hand in case Castiel rang, and he’d suddenly realised that the call was never coming. In a rage, he’d overturned the kitchen table and started destroying everything he laid his hands on, wordless cries of rage and misery escaping him. He’d destroyed at least three rooms before he’d slumped to the floor, choking back tearless sobs. When he’d recovered, he’d spent the night in the Impala, just driving around. Now, the next morning, he was back, surveying the mess he’d created and he just didn’t care.

Cas was gone.

Opening his room door was the final straw, and he shook his head when he saw his room, and the empty half he’d never decorated because it was for Castiel. Turning on his heel, he clutched the picture tightly as he made his way to the door again. He couldn’t bear to stay here. Not yet. Wrenching open the door, he stopped dead at the figure approaching.

“Cas?” He called out hoarsely, his voice breaking as he recognized the new trenchcoat and he closed his eyes for just a second, before walking over to him. Tears were stinging his eyes and he didn’t know whether to kiss him or punch him. In the end, he settled for neither, just grabbing hold of him and pulling him into a tight hug. “Son of a bitch, I thought you were gone.”

When Dean tried to withdraw from the hug, Castiel put his arms around Dean and held him close. “I’m sorry, Dean. I came back as soon as I could.”

Stepping inside the bunker, Castiel waved his hand and everything that Dean had smashed or damaged was repaired, whole again. And in that moment, with Castiel by his side, Dean felt the broken pieces of his heart do the same.

**Author's Note:**

> [My Tumblr](http://diceandpokerchips.tumblr.com)


End file.
